Forncett is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,000 in 381 households at the 2001 census, increasing to 1,126 at the 2011 census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

South Norfolk South Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Long Stratton. The population of the Local Authority District was 124,012 as taken at the 2011 Census. History The district was formed on 1 April 197 ...

. It includes the villages of Forncett St Peter's,

Forncett St Mary Forncett St Mary is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Forncett, in the South Norfolk district, in the county of Norfolk, England. The village is located east of Attleborough and south-west of Norwich, close to the course o ...

and

Forncett End Forncett is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,000 in 381 households at the 2001 census, increasing to 1,126 at the 2011 census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within ...

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

in the same name exists. This ward stretches north to

Ashwellthorpe and Fundenhall Ashwellthorpe and Fundenhall is a civil parish in the English county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinbur ...

with a total population at the 2011 Census of 2,701.

Forncett Industrial Steam Museum

Vickers Armstrong 150 HP Horizontal Cross Compound Hydraulic Pumping Engine - geograph

The Forncett Industrial Steam Museum houses a collection of large

stationary steam engine Stationary steam engines are fixed steam engines used for pumping or driving mills and factories, and for power generation. They are distinct from locomotive engines used on railways, traction engines for heavy steam haulage on roads, steam cars ...

s which are occasionally demonstrated to the public. Included in the collection is a 150 hp

Vickers Armstrong Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, wi ...

cross-compound pumping engine originally used to open

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule and Suspended-deck suspension bridge, suspension bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones (architect), Horace Jones and e ...

in London. It was the 'third' steam engine, installed as a wartime precaution against air-raid damage, and was removed to Forncett in 1974. The two original engines remain on display at Tower Bridge. Other exhibits include a

Gimson and Company Gimson and Company were founded in 1840 by Josiah and Benjamin Gimson on Welford Road in Leicester. The company were listed as Engineers, Ironfounders, Boiler Makers & General Machinists. They later moved to Vulcan Works, Vulcan Road, Humberstone ...

beam engine A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newco ...

, and examples of

Corliss engine A Corliss steam engine (or Corliss engine) is a steam engine, fitted with rotary valves and with variable valve timing patented in 1849, invented by and named after the American engineer George Henry Corliss of Providence, Rhode Island. Engines f ...

s, vertical engines and

Woolf compound engine Arthur Woolf (1766, Camborne, Cornwall – 16 October 1837, Guernsey) was a Cornish engineer, most famous for inventing a high-pressure compound steam engine. As such he made an outstanding contribution to the development and perfection of the ...

Norfolk Tank Museum

Situated in Station Road, the museum houses an exhibition of tanks, armoured vehicles, and weaponry.

Notable people

Frances Ellen Colenso Frances Ellen Colenso (30 May 1849 – 28 April 1887) was an English historian of the Zulu Wars. Life Colenso was born in Forncett in Norfolk in 1849. Her father was John Colenso and her mother was Frances Colenso. She was known as "Fanny" by ...

, a historian of the Zulu Wars, was born here in 1849.B. M. Nicholls, ‘Colenso, Harriette Emily (1847–1932)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200
accessed 2 Jan 2017
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References

External links

Forncett Industrial Steam Museum
{{authority control Civil parishes in Norfolk South Norfolk